MOSCOW — Russia’s National Anti-Terrorism Committee says the leader of an Islamic State “sleeper cell” and one of the cell’s members have been killed in a shootout with police.

The committee said in a statement Saturday that the shootout took place late the previous night in the Stavropol region, about 1,250 kilometres (750 miles) south of Moscow. Stavropol is adjacent to several majority-Muslim republics, including Chechnya where Islamic separatists fought an all-out war with Russian forces.

The committee said the shooting broke out when police tried to stop an automobile and its occupants opened fire.

It says the officers found bomb-making components in the car and later discovered IS literature at one of the suspects’ residences.